Iran, Jordan, Alienated from Turkey, Warmly Welcome Armenian Leaders

November 4, 2014 By administrator

BY HARUT SASSOUNIAN

Armenians boosted their historical ties with the Arab and Muslim world last month with the simultaneous visits of Armenia’s President and Jerusalem’s Armenian Patriarch to the Kingdom of Jordan, and visits by the Armenian Prime Minister and Aram Catholicos of Lebanon to the Islamic Republic of Iran.

While such foreign visits are commonplace, the exceptionally warm reception accorded by Shia Iran and Sunni Jordan to four Armenian leaders reflects these Islamic countries’ close relationship with Christian Armenians and displeasure with the Turkish government’s radical Islamist policies.

Only a few years ago, many Arabs and Muslims hailed Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Erdogan — now President — as a modern-day Sultan who was championing their national and religious aspirations. In 2010, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Turkey decided to form a joint free trade zone to strengthen their economic cooperation. Soon after, by siding with the Muslim Brotherhood and Jihadists’ murderous rampage against Kurds, Yazidis, Shias, Alawites, and Christian minorities, Erdogan’s hegemonic and erratic behavior alienated almost every state in the Middle East. Turkey’s love-fest with Syria quickly turned into outright hostility, and Ankara’s relations with Egypt, Iran, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and especially Israel, became antagonistic.

These regional tensions with Turkey may have played a role in the enthusiastic welcome the four Armenian dignitaries received from the highest ranking officials of Iran and Jordan where they had warm and fruitful discussions regarding their mutual interests and concerns. Here are the highlights of their visits:

– Pres. Serzh Sargsyan met with King Abdullah II, Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour, Senate President Abdel Raouf al-Rawabdeh, and Speaker of the House of Representatives Atef Tarawneh. During the visit, the mayors of Yerevan and Amman signed a sister city agreement. The leaders of the two countries decided to establish inter-parliamentary friendship groups and expand their cooperation in the fields of tourism, energy, agriculture, and health. Pres. Sargsyan thanked the Jordanian leadership for welcoming Armenian refugees during the 1915 Genocide and paying special attention to the needs of the Armenian community of Jordan today. The Armenian President voiced his gratitude for the decree issued in 1917 by Sharif al-Husayn Ibn Ali, who urged the Muslim faithful to protect the Armenian survivors of the Genocide “as you would defend yourselves, your properties, and children.” Pres. Sargsyan also paid tribute to the late King Hussein who had sent urgently-needed humanitarian aid to Armenia shortly after the 1988 earthquake. The President then attended the historic consecration of the St. Garabed Church by Jerusalem Patriarch Nourhan Manougian near the Jordan River where Jesus was baptized. The land for the sacred site of the church was graciously donated by the Jordanian government. It is ironic that while Turkey aided and abetted ISIS terrorists’ destruction of the Armenian Genocide Memorial Church in Der Zor, the Jordanian government was instrumental in the construction of an Armenian Church on the banks of the Jordan River!

– During his brief visit to Iran, Armenia’s Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan met Pres. Hassan Rouhani and signed a series of agreements on energy, agriculture, and culture. Mr. Abrahamyan transmitted Pres. Sargsyan’s invitation to Pres. Rouhani to visit Yerevan next April 24, on the Armenian Genocide Centennial. The Prime Minister, accompanied by seven cabinet ministers, also met Iran’s First Vice President Es’haq Jahangiri, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, Minister of Petroleum Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, and Isfahan Governor Rasul Zargarpur who praised the contributions of the Armenian community to the development of Isfahan.

– Aram Catholicos met with Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani who hailed the positive role played by the Iranian-Armenian community: “Iran has always held the Armenian community in high regard and many friendly relations have been in progress between Iranian Muslims and Armenians.” They also discussed the Turkish government’s negative role in the region. Aram Catholicos also met with the Governor of Isfahan and leaders of the Islamic Organization for Intercultural and Interreligious Dialogue. On behalf of Pres. Rouhani, Ali Younesi, Special Assistant to the President on ethnic and religious minorities, hosted a dinner in honor of the Catholicos. Speaking at a conference in New Julfa on Armenian Genocide demands from Turkey, Aram Catholicos declared: “irrespective of the circumstances and the elapsed time, we shall continue to demand justice for our martyrs.”

The coincidental visits of the four Armenian leaders to Iran and Jordan reinforced the strong positive ties between the two Muslim countries and Armenia and Armenians, and highlighted Turkey’s further isolation in the Middle East.

St. Garabed Church Inaugurated in Jordan

October 31, 2014 By administrator

The Armenian St. Karept Church in Jordan was inaugurated in a ceremony attended by church and state officials, including Armenia’s President Serzh Sarkisian.

Representatives of the local Armenian community welcomed President Sarkisian and his delegation at the entrance of the church with bread and salt.

Secretary General of the Religious Primacy and the Local National Council Nerses Nersesyan offered a welcoming speech.

The Armenian community of Jerusalem with the support of the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem took the initiative to build the church at the Baptism Site of Jesus Christ on the east bank of the Jordan River in 2009.

The groundbreaking ceremony in 2009 featured religious leaders and representatives of the Armenian community.

President Sarkisian has been in Jordan on an official visit since Wednesday.

Armenia president starts his visit to Jordan

October 30, 2014 By administrator

President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan started his official visit to Jordan at the invitation of King Abdullah II ibn al-Hussein

The head of Armenian held private meeting with King Abdullah II to discuss prospects for development of relations in different areas. They noted importance of political dialogue, deepening of economic cooperation and efficient use of existing potential.

The private talks were followed by an extended meeting with the participation of delegations, signing of documents aimed at strengthening and deepening of Armenia-Jordan cooperation in the field of atomic energy for peaceful purposes, lifting of visa requirements for citizens having diplomatic passports, cooperation on healthcare, investments, tourism, agriculture, civil aviation. They also touched upon creation of Armenia-Jordan business council.

A working dinner was given in honor of the President of Armenia.

ISIS: Iraq today and possibly Jordan tomorrow

June 24, 2014 By administrator

Don’t be fooled by its name: The terror group “Islamic State of Iraq and Syria” plans to attack well beyond the borders of those two countries. After snatching an Iraq-Jordan checkpoint, Amman is on high alert.

The Jordan-Iraq border crossing is a solitary post, located in the endless yellow-brown desert between Jordan’s capital, Amman, and Baghdad, Iraq.

The Iraqi customs officials there are supposed to monitor entry and exit to the country. But the Iraqi-Jordan border crossing has nothing more to report to Iraq’s central government: Members of a Sunni militia allied with the terror group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) are now in control.

While the overrun border outpost is just , it is raising alarm in Amman. Jordan’s interior minister announced that his country is now “surrounded by extremists.” Troops stationed on Iraq’s border have been placed on high alert. According to domestic military sources, the kingdom has mobilized dozens of units along the border.

Washington is concerned as well. President Obama warned that the jihadist march could spread to Jordan from Iraq. considers ISIS “a threat to the whole region.”

Increased security measures

André Bank, a Middle East expert at the Hamburg-based German Institute of Global and Area Studies (GIGA), says the group’s goal is to establish in Islamic state in Iraq as well as “Greater Syria.”

“That means not only Syria, parts of Iraq, Lebanon and large parts of [historical] Palestine, but also large areas of Jordan,” he told DW.

That territorial claim can be seen in an ISIS propaganda video released last week on the Internet. In it, five fighters, apparently from the UK and Australia, speak to the camera.

“We don’t recognize borders,” one of the men says, adding that he and his comrades had fought in Syria, would soon enter Iraq and would then enter Jordan and Lebanon – “wherever our leader sends us.”

It’s likely straight propaganda. André Bank considers it somewhat unrealistic for ISIS fighters to penetrate Jordan. Where in Iraq they’ve encountered a demoralized army giving up large swathes of territory without so much as a fight, Jordan’s military would engage.

“Jordan’s security apparatus is one of the strongest in the region. Border facilities will be strongly protected,” he said.

Rising threat

What ISIS might do is destabilize Jordan through terror attacks. It wouldn’t be the first time the country found itself targeted by terrorists. In 2005, more than 50 people died in separate terror attacks on luxury hotels. The precursor to ISIS, Al Qaeda in Iraq, claimed responsibility. At that time the group was led by a Jordanian, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was killed one year later in a targeted US air strike just 50 kilometers (31 miles) north of Baghdad.

Ramzy Mardini is an Amman-based security expert with the nonpartisan US think tank Atlantic Council. He believes the radical ISIS group might have already established a terror cell within Jordan. The country is home to a growing number of jihadists, he says, a fact shown Friday (20.06.2014) when 200 ISIS supporters took to the streets in the southern Jordan city of Maan and openly declared it the “Fallujah of Jordan” – a reference to the Iraqi stronghold of radical Sunni Islam.

But, according to Jordan’s former foreign minister, Marwan Muasher, a “large majority of the population” in Jordan is against the extremist ISIS.

Muasher, the current vice president at the Carnegie Endowment research institute, added that “the danger ISIS presents to Jordan is not comparable to the danger the organization represents for Syria or Iraq.”

ISIS is a security threat, he says – not an “existential danger.”

Reforming a stable Jordan

Jordan’s head of state, King Abdullah II, is still in the drivers seat, says André Bank – partly due to support from Western states, from Israel but also from Gulf monarchies.

Still, the country faces big problems. Refugees from Syria number in the hundreds of thousands. Its economy is sputtering, causing increased unemployment.

As Berlin welcomes Jordan’s king on Tuesday, where he will meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Bank sees a need for at two-pronged approach: Jordan’s refugee burden must be better supported; any long-term help delivered by Germany, he says, should come with preconditions for reform.

That’s because extremism will continue to take root in Jordan, the Middle East expert says, unless the increasingly authoritarian country further opens itself politically and adopts an economic policy that’s more socially balanced.

Source: dw.com

Jordan, Egypt, Iraq discuss building joint railway

April 13, 2014 By administrator

Jordan, Egypt and Iraq have discussed a joint railway project that would link the three countries.

Jordanian Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour met with Egypt’s Transportation Minister Ibrahim Demeiri and Iraq’s Transportation Minister Salman Jassim in Amman on Saturday to discuss the project.

Petra news agency quoted Ensour as saying that the railway project “will increase the trade cooperation and consolidate the Arab countries’ economic interests.”

The report did not provide further information about the project.

They also discussed the Arab Bridge Maritime, a joint venture of Jordan, Egypt and Iraq, which accumulated a profit of more than $250 million.

Syria crisis: Deadly clash in Jordan’s Zaatari camp

April 6, 2014 By administrator

BBC At least one person has been reported killed and dozens hurt in a riot at Jordan’s Zaatari camp, home to some 106,000 refugees from Syria’s war.

Jordanian forces used tear gas against stone-throwing refugees who had set fire to tents and vehicles.

Both sides blame each other for provoking the violence. The dead person was a Syrian refugee, officials say.

The sprawling camp has seen several protests since opening two years ago, mainly over poor living conditions.

Zaatari is located in the Jordanian desert, about 12km (7.5 miles) from the Syrian border.

It is the world’s second-largest refugee camp – behind Dadaab in eastern Kenya – and has become the fourth largest city in Jordan.

Harsh conditions

Jordanian authorities said the violence broke out after police arrested a group of refugees who were trying to leave the camp illegally.

“The rioters burned six tents and two caravans and tried to attack police stations,” the Public Security Directorate said in a statement.

Some 106,000 Syrians now call Zaatari home

Residents of Zaatari, however, claimed the clashes occurred because a Jordanian policeman had run over a Syrian child.

Eyewitnesses also said the number of refugees injured in the unrest was much higher than the three cases confirmed by officials.

“We are always treated unfairly, we’ve escaped from an injustice [in Syria] to another injustice,” said a refugee interviewed by the Associated Press news agency.

Brig Gen Waddah Hmoud, the director of the Syrian Refugees Camp Affairs Department, said 29 police and gendarmerie officers had been taken to hospital with injuries.

“Unfortunately two of the Syrian refugees were injured by gunshot, one of them passed away this morning,” he told the AP news agency.

Opened in July 2012 with some 100 refugee families, Zaatari is now made up of roughly 30,000 shelters and administration buildings.

It costs about $500,000 (£320,000) a day to run, with half a million pieces of bread and 4.2m litres of water distributed daily.

Correspondents say life inside the camp can be harsh, as residents – mostly hailing from the Daraa governorate of Syria, face a number of challenges – the biggest being security.

An overflow camp – Azraq – is under construction in the desert to meet demand. It will have the capacity to host up to 130,000 people.

More than 2.5 million people have fled Syria since the civil war broke out there in March 2011.

Earlier this week, the UN confirmed that the number of Syrian refugees registered in Lebanon had surpassed one million, making it the highest per capita concentration of refugees worldwide.

This is followed by Jordan, which houses almost 600,000 refugees. Other main host countries include Turkey, Iraq and Egypt.